2011 NBA Draft

[MarkGrace]

Coach Cal bringing some hype for his guy.

John Calipari lauded would-be UK player Enes Kanter as worthy of the overall No. 1 pick.

"Yeah, he is," the UK coach said. "And, I'm telling you, people are looking at him right now and saying, 'Oh my gosh! How can I pass on this?' He's a beast. He's skill and all of 6-11. And I'm not talking about an undersized 6-7. You're talking about real size. They'll see athleticism they haven't seen.

"If you're asking me and I'm picking at 1, I'm taking Enes Kanter. That's no disrespect to Kyrie (Irving) or any of those other players. They're all worthy of that, too. That's just me, personally. Then again, I'm probably biased."

Calipari likened Kanter to "a Karl Malone-ish kind of guy."

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...#ixzz1N9HqVGJH

[Sizzle]

Coach Cal bringing some hype for his guy.


Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...#ixzz1N9HqVGJH

It feels like time to quote Public Enemy:

Don't believe the hype

[Surfah]

It feels like time to quote Public Enemy:

Don't believe the hype

That's pretty much how I feel about Irving at this point.

[Sizzle]

That's pretty much how I feel about Irving at this point.

Irving is an enigma to me. He played 11 games at the collegiate level. You would have to blow me away to have me convinced based on a small sample size. Looking at Irving's stats, and they're pretty incredible. 53% from the floor, 46% from the 3, 90% from the line, that is elite. I thought about writing it off to poor pre-season competition, but he played against Michigan State, Princeton, Kansas State, Butler, Oregon and Marquette, all teams that made the tournament, and then in three tournament games. Based on his sample size if you're the Jazz at 3 and he's on the board, you almost have to take him. But I don't think he is the sure thing that so many others do.

The dream draft for me as a Jazz fan I think has Kanter and Irving going 1/2 with Derek Williams slipping to 3. I think both Kanter and Irving could be good at their spots, but they have a lot of question marks. Derek Williams also fills a bigger need, IMO, with the Jazz as I think his primary position will be at the 3. Williams isn't without his questions, but I think his is more in terms of position than what he is capable of as a player.

[Surfah]

Irving is an enigma to me. He played 11 games at the collegiate level. You would have to blow me away to have me convinced based on a small sample size. Looking at Irving's stats, and they're pretty incredible. 53% from the floor, 46% from the 3, 90% from the line, that is elite. I thought about writing it off to poor pre-season competition, but he played against Michigan State, Princeton, Kansas State, Butler, Oregon and Marquette, all teams that made the tournament, and then in three tournament games. Based on his sample size if you're the Jazz at 3 and he's on the board, you almost have to take him. But I don't think he is the sure thing that so many others do.

The dream draft for me as a Jazz fan I think has Kanter and Irving going 1/2 with Derek Williams slipping to 3. I think both Kanter and Irving could be good at their spots, but they have a lot of question marks. Derek Williams also fills a bigger need, IMO, with the Jazz as I think his primary position will be at the 3. Williams isn't without his questions, but I think his is more in terms of position than what he is capable of as a player.

Irving also is a Duke PG. I am sure there has to be a great one in the NBA someday. Maybe he will be it.

[MarkGrace]

Irving also is a Duke PG. I am sure there has to be a great one in the NBA someday. Maybe he will be it.

Whoever ends up with him better make sure he doesn't get on a motorcycle.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Irving also is a Duke PG. I am sure there has to be a great one in the NBA someday. Maybe he will be it.

That's one of Irving's big positives...he played so little he really isn't a Dookie.

[Jacob]

Recent highlights for Lananciunas, from the Lithuanian League finals:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperRef.../0/DbF1X10UXHw
All dunks, rebounds, blocks and hustle plays. Some very aggressive dunks. I really like him on the highlight reels.
Another reel of mostly dunks, rebounds blocks. That's all they have him do. Not many skilled post moves that I see. Great free throw shooter though. Great body. Not a great jumper, but seems to move around very well and dunks aggressively.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperRef.../2/EzNugzv7_Uo
Same age as Kanter and Knight (who it turns out is 19, not 18).

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Dx tweets that Cleveland offered the #4 pick and trade exception to Memphis for Rudy Gay. And Memphis said no.

Memphis is headed to a crazy (for them) cap figure if they keep Gay and pay Gasol.

[Surfah]

Dx tweets that Cleveland offered the #4 pick and trade exception to Memphis for Rudy Gay. And Memphis said no.

Memphis is headed to a crazy (for them) cap figure if they keep Gay and pay Gasol.

Memphis' owner basically said last week that Gay is untouchable.

[smokymountainrain]

Memphis' owner basically said last week that Gay is untouchable.

Crazy. They were better without him.

[MarkGrace]

Analyzing the 2011 NBA Combine Measurements
May 21, 2011
The closest comparison to Derrick Williams (6-7 ¼ without shoes, 7-1 ½ wingspan, 248 pounds) we can find in our database physically is former Georgetown standout DaJuan Summers (6-7 ¼ withough shoes, 7-0 ¾ wingspan, 243 pounds). Amongst power forwards drafted in the top-5 in recent seasons, Williams compares favorably to Michael Beasley (6-7 without shoes, 7-0 ¼ wingspan, 239 pounds), another player who was incredibly productive on the college level.

The Arizona product would rank right around average for a power forward in terms of physical tools, but measures out about an inch taller, weigh in 15 pounds heavier, and post a wingspan an inch longer than the average small forward in our database.

Looking at other small forwards drafted in the top-15 in our database, Williams would be the heaviest small forward picked since Rodney Rogers in 1993. Rogers didn't spend a significant time at the three-position as his career progressed. The next heaviest three drafted in that range was LeBron James, who tipped the scales at 245. By no means is it impossible to see Williams playing the small forward position full time at the next level, but he would rank as one of the more physically unique players we've seen there in some time.

Williams made major strides in his physical conditioning this season, but with a body fat percentage of 10.8 he could drop even more weight heading into his rookie season. Considering the transformation he underwent between his freshman and sophomore years, it will be interesting to see which direction his body heads on the NBA level.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...#ixzz1NBMeKCyU
http://www.draftexpress.com

[MarkGrace]

Lots of weekend notes from Ford today.

• Is Kyrie Irving a lock for the No. 1 pick? No, but it's close. All the hand wringing about Irving not participating in the combine is much ado about nothing. It will have zero bearing on the Cavs' decision. Irving is planning to do just one workout and it's with the Cavs.

• Arizona's Derrick Williams boldly asserted that he should be the No. 1 pick on Thursday. It's unlikely he'll persuade the Cavs to pull the trigger at one, but he did have a good weekend. NBA scouts have been wondering for months whether Williams was big enough to play the 4 in the NBA and have been trying to project him as an NBA 3. Williams' measurements strongly helped his cause as an NBA power forward.

• Turkey's Enes Kanter was the real star of the draft combine. Many of the NBA executives in attendance had never seen him play before (with the possible exception of a Kentucky practice) and the rest had only seen him at the Nike Hoop Summit. Kanter didn't do anything spectacular, but he was in good shape, played hard, showed some skills offensively and was very good in interviews with teams. He also measured well at 6-11, 260 pounds with a 7-1 wingspan and a 9-1 standing reach.

Really sounds like this thing is turning into a 3 player draft, which is certainly beneficial to the Jazz. As Kanter continues to emerge, I wonder if the Jazz would still be tempted to take Knight at 3 if faced with a decision between him and Kanter.

And a Jimmer tidbit:

• BYU's Jimmer Fredette was a hot topic at the camp. He didn't really stand out in the drills on Thursday or Friday, but he was a major hit in interviews. A number of teams told me Fredette was the best interview they had and came away convinced that all of his celebrity had not gone to his head. "He's a humble, hard-working kid. You can't help but like him," one NBA executive said.

[ame="http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/blog?name=nba_draft&id=6578427"]NBA Draft: Kyrie Irving is not quite a lock at No. 1 - ESPN[/ame]

[smokymountainrain]

Is Kanter the NBAs Mike Mamula? Scary to draft a guy so high based on one good performance in a HS allstar game and the fact that he's a workout warrior.

[MarkGrace]

Is Kanter the NBAs Mike Mamula? Scary to draft a guy so high based on one good performance in a HS allstar game and the fact that he's a workout warrior.

The guy does seem like a huge unknown, but when you think about it, he's not in really all that different a position than most kids coming out of HS, and prior to the new rule teams had no problem drafting kids in that situation.

He started playing professionally in Turkey at like what, 15? He's played for their Jr. national team for years, came over to the states for his Sr. year and was ranked the top overall C in his class by scout and rivals, and this was all before his performance at the Hoop Summit.

I mean the only real difference between this kid and Irving is about 10 college games. Those games certainly help in the evaluation, but I don't see their situations as being drastically different. Does lead to some concern in both cases, though.